Akshara Theatre, one of the top 20 theatres of the country, which is on the verge of going dark due to pending electricity dues has now started an online crowd funding campaign seeking financial support.
Authorities at the iconic 44-year-old theatre here allege that the electricity department has sent them a bill of Rs 3 lakh which they could not pay before March 1, the last date for payment.
“We received a bill of Rs 3 lakh from the electricity department a month back much to our horror as we could not have paid such a big amount. But somehow we raised Rs 2 lakh which the electricity department accepted after much pleading,” says actress Jalbala Vaidya, one of the founder members of the theatre.
The theatre has received a notice which informs that the theatre’s lights will be switched off if the pending bill of Rs 4 lakh is not paid off by March 15.
“We again received a bill of Rs 3 lakh some days back from the electricity department and the last date of it was March. 1. We could not pay the amount and hence it got increased to Rs 4 lakh,” says Ms Vaidya. The theatre has now started an online crowd funding campaign at BitGiving inviting donations to save itself from going dark. Since it is a registered, non-profit Theatre Society donations attract exemption from income-tax under Section 80G.
Artists from the country and abroad have come forward to help the theatre authorities raise money with many students of Akshara also extending their support to the campaign.
“An audience member who had come to watch a play told us about BitGiving. So we aim to raise the amount and pay it by March 15. Also many artists, including stand up comedian Kishor Dayani, Papa CJ, have extended their support to raise funds,” says Ms Vaidya.
The theatre has been a nursery for the stand-up comedians since its inception when it opened to a housefull at Lady Shri Ram College on March 11, 1972.
Akshara Theatre has hosted numerous plays and supported young theatre groups and college students over the years with its The Ramayana, written by Gopal Sharman, becoming the only Indian play till date to have appeared on Broadway in February 1975 with the New York Times calling it “India’s Gift to Broadway.”
Since then The Ramayana has been performed more than 2,000 times as a tour de force solo performance, by Jalabala Vaidya, who is Mr Sharman’s wife in various national theatres in the West and in 35 towns and cities in India.
